Product carrier for use during internal transport and treatment of garments and method for same

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to an apparatus for transporting product carriers comprising hangers for carrying products, a loading station for loading the hangers in product carriers including a slot for insertion of the hangers and a pivotable spring-loaded lock for locking the hangers in the slot of the product carrier, a buffer station from which hangers are transported to the loading station, a carrier station from which product carriers are transported to the loading station, means for inserting hangers in the slot at the loading station so that the hangers are locked in the slot and carried by the product carrier, control means for guiding the movement of the product carriers in the apparatus and for releasing the lock from the locking position so that the hangers are released at a predetermined point in the apparatus. The product carrier and a method for transporting hangers are also disclosed.

TECHNICAL AREA

The present invention relates to a product carrier for use duringinternal transport and the treatment of garments in, for example,laundries, whereby the garments are hung up on hangers at a hangingstation and moved forward on a rail. The product carrier is carried bythe rail and the hangers are hung up into this and not onto the rail.The invention also relates to a method for internal transport ofhangers.

PRIOR ART

In laundries and similar arrangements where garments and clothes are tobe treated the garments or the clothing are usually hung up on a hanger,either at the beginning of the treatment or at a stage during thetreatment, for example after the washing and drying. The hanger in itsturn is hung up onto a transport arrangement, comprising a productcarrier and a rail or the like. The hangers are transported to furthertreatment stations, such as "finishing treatments", comprisingsteamwetting of the clothes, blowing of the clothes to straighten outcreases etc., and finally to the sorting and packing station fordelivery to the customers.

In large laundries which, for example, wash garments for hospitals,larger companies and the like a very large number of garments are washedevery day. These garments shall be subjected groupwise to differenttreatment and they shall also be sorted in different groups fordifferent customers. To enable this to be done quickly, easily andwithout excessive costs or errors, electronics have been used and themovement of the garments is guided after the washing and the drying onthe transport rail by means of a guiding system, for example a computer.One condition for the transport of the hangers to be able to be guidedby a computer to the different treating stations and unloading stationsis that the computer knows which garments are present on the transporttrack and where they are to be transported. The hangers are usually hungup in a product carrier which moves on the rail and both the hangers andthe product carrier are therefore in most, or at least in some cases,marked in some way so that they can be identified by the computer orinformation regarding the hanger and the product carrier is manuallyentered into the computer so that it knows the position of the hanger.

Hangers, product carriers and garments can be marked with bar codes oreven with a radio frequency identification or the like. The garmentsbelonging to large customers are advantageously usually marked once andfor all and the marking comprises identification of the customer, whatarticle is marked, which person in the client company uses the article,etc. The marking can comprise only one or a few details of suchinformation. The garments may also be completely unmarked. The markingwhich then further is needed to enable the computer to guide the garmentis then mostly carried out manually at the hanging station.

An example of an apparatus of prior art is disclosed in DE-A-3 834 576

THE TECHNICAL PROBLEM

Systems such as those described above usually work well and they do notrequire too much manual work. However, some manual handling occurs,especially in relation to hanging up all the hangers provided with thegarments into the product carrier and removing these hangers at the endstation. An automatic method and an automatic arrangement for carryingout these operations have therefore long been desireable.

THE SOLUTION

According to the present invention a product carrier for use duringinternal transport of hangers in, for example, laundries has beenbrought about, which product carrier comprises an elongated rigidelement, for example a rod, having suspending arrangements in the shapeof rolls or the like intended to hang on a rail and which carries afastening device for a hanger, which product carrier is characterized inthat the fastening device comprises a slot which in the hanging positionof the product carrier is downwardly open for insertion of a hanginghook of a hanger, and a pivotable lock in the slot, which lock isintended to lock and carry the hanging hook of a hanger in the slot,which lock is spring-loaded in its locking position and arranged to bereleased by a depressable spring-loaded pin.

According to the invention, it is preferred that the fastening deviceconsists of two disc-shaped elements united at their upper parts andforming the slot at their lower parts.

According to the invention the lock is preferably pivotably mounted inone of the disc-shaped elements at its lower part and may have anoblique surface inwardly toward the slot against which surface thehanger hook is intended to slide during its insertion and push the lockbackward.

According to the invention it is preferred that the oblique surfacetransforms in a "shelf" on the lock which shelf is intended to carry thehanger hook after the insertion thereof.

According to the invention the lock co-operates preferably at its upperpart with a pressure spring which presses the lock outward/forward.

To release the lock the displaceable spring loaded pin, according to theinvention, has preferably an oblique axial surface which on displacementof the pin co-operates with a surface on the lock for displacementinward/backward to release position for the lock.

The invention also comprises use of the invented product carrier forinternal transport and treatment of garments in, for example, laundrieswhereby the garments are hung up on hangers in a hanging station, whichhangers are moved on from there suspended from a rail or the like andthe garments, which are marked with a bar code, radio frequencyidentification or the like, are read by a reading device at the hangingstation and are registered in a computer, or garments which are notmarked are manually registered in the same computer whereupon thehangers are hung up in a moveable and marked product carrier on the railwhich is registered by the computer, whereupon the product carrier ismoved forward on the rail under computer guidance and that the hanger isautomatically released from the product carrier at a point which isdetermined by the computer and which is characterized in that the hangeris hung up automatically from below into the slot in the product carrieraccording to the invention.

According to the invention the registration of the garment and theproduct carrier is preferably combined in the computer.

The combined registration of the garments and the product carrier in thecomputer constitutes, according to the invention, is preferably a basisfor the guidance of the product carrier by the computer.

FIGURE DESCRIPTION

The invention will in the following be described more in detail inconnection with the attached figures where

FIG. 1 schematically shows the suspension of the hanger provided with agarment in the product carrier, where

FIG. 2 schematically shows the removal of the hanger provided with agarment from the product carrier to a separate rail, where

FIG. 3 shows the two discshaped elements of the product carrier and avertical section through the combined product carrier with insertedhanger hook.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A main transport rail 1 in a laundry for transport of garments whichshall be further treated after washing and delivered to a predeterminedposition is shown on FIG. 1. This rail 1 is, in the present case, madesloping but it may also be horizontal or incline upwardly depending onthe circumstances. In the present case a station for the productcarriers 3 has been arranged which station is intended to deliver theproduct carriers 3 one by one down to a loading station 4 where hangers5 provided with garments 2 shall be pushed from below into the productcarrier 3. The hangers 5 come from a buffer station from which they arebrought forward one by one to a point directly underneath the loadingstation 4. The hanger 5 is on a rail 6 and this rail 6 has at its end anarrangement 7 for lifting the hanger 5 into the product carrier 3. Thislifting arrangement 7 can be of any kind and is not described furtherhere.

As shown in the drawing, the hanging station 4 comprises two flaps 8.They are pivotably suspended and can be operated by air pressurecylinders or the like. In the drawing one of the flaps is shown lowered,in which position it will be maintained when the product carrier 3reaches the station 4 and is stopped by this flap 8. Thereafter, theproduct carrier is locked by the second flap 8 being swung downwardlyand pressed against the hook of the product carrier 3. A locking in thisposition of the product carrier 3 is necessary to make it possible forthe hanger 5 to be pushed upwardly into it without it swinging to theside or lifting. After the hanger 5 has been pushed up into the productcarrier 3 it is then carried forward in a way known per se in thedirection of the arrow.

FIG. 2 shows the end station for the movement of the garment 2 on therail 1. The rail 1 is endless but this end station is marked by arelease station 9. When the product carrier 3 has come to the releasestation 9 the computer will know this and it knows that the hanger 5shall be released. The release station 9 comprises an up- and downwardlymoving disk or the like which, when releasing shall occur, pressesagainst a releasing pin on the product carrier 3, which shall bedescribed in more detail below. Under this station 9 a new rail 11 hasarrived and it receives the hanger 5 which is dropped down on this rail.This rail 11 is shown swung to the side to the right but it can also beswung sidewardly to the left. Different rails 11 may be displaceablesidewardly for receiving hangers 5. The product carrier 3 moves on afterthe removal on the rail 1 without the hanger 5.

In FIG. 3 the two disc-shaped elements which are a part of the productcarrier 3 are shown. To the left the front element 12 is shown and tothe right the rear element 13. On the front element 12 the suspensionhook 14 is mounted. The two elements 12 and 13 can be united by, forexample, screws 15. In the left front part an opening 16 from below ismade, which opening is intended to accommodate the lock 17 mounted onthe second rear disc 13. This opening 16 is accordingly not the slotmentioned earlier. In the front part 12 a groove 18 for the releasingpin 19 is arranged and a channel 20 from the groove 18, which channel 20is intended for an arm 21 which protrudes horizontally from the lock 17.

On the disc 13 to the right in FIG. 3 it is shown how the lock 17 ispivotably mounted on axes 22 at the lower part of the disc 13. At theupper part of the lock 17 a pressure spring 23 is arranged which, on theright part of FIG. 3 is shown hidden by the lock 17 itself, but which isshown better on the intermediate part between the discs. Further, on theright part of FIG. 3 the spring 24 is shown, which can be pushed in bythe displacement pin 19.

On the intermediate part between the discs 12 and 13 in FIG. 3 it isshown how these have been united and form a lower slot 25. The lock 17has, as it is shown, an oblique front surface 26. When the hanging hook27 of the hanger 5 is pushed upwardly into the slot 25 it will slideagainst the surface 26 and push the lock 17 backwardly against thespring force from the spring 23. When the hanger hook 27 has reached theupper part of this surface 26 the lock 17 is snapped back to itsoriginal position and the hanger hook 27 is received on a shelf 28. Itwill then be hanging on this shelf 28 and locked between the parts 12and 13.

When the hanger 5 with its hanger hook 27 shall be released the pin 19is pushed downwardly by means of some device, for example the disc 10which is shown in FIG. 2. The pin 19 has an oblique axial surface whichfaces the rear disc 13 and which abuts against the arm 21 of the lock17. When the pin 19 is pushed downwardly against the spring 24, the arm21 and the lock 17 will, due to this oblique surface, be pushedbackwardly so that the hanger hook 27 falls down.

By the arrangement according to the present invention both an automaticlifting-up of the lower hanger with its garment and an automaticreleasing of the same hanger with its garment will be obtained at apoint along the track which is predetermined by the computer and whichis controlled by this together with the coding on the product carrierand the hanger.

The invention is not limited to the embodiment shown but can be variedin different ways within the scope of the claims.

We claim:
 1. A product carrier for transporting a hanger, comprising anelongated rigid element, a fastening device on said elongated rigidelement for carrying said hanger, and means for transporting said rigidelement, said fastening device comprising a housing having a downwardlyopen slot for insertion of said hanger and a pivotable lock mounted insaid slot and pivotable between a locking position and a releaseposition, said pivotable lock spring-loaded in said locking position forlocking said hanger in said slot, said lock including release means forpivoting said lock into said release position from said locking positionand releasing said hanger from said product carrier.
 2. The productcarrier of claim 1, wherein said release means comprises a pin movablebetween a first position and a second position, said pin beingspring-loaded in said first position, whereby upon moving into saidsecond position said pin pivots said lock into said release position. 3.The product carrier of claim 1, wherein said housing comprises a firstdisc-shaped element and a second disc-shaped element, each of said firstand second disc-shaped element having an upper part and a lower part,said upper part of said first disc-shaped element being joined to saidupper part of said second disc-shaped element and said lower parts ofsaid first and second disc-shaped elements forming said slot.
 4. Theproduct carrier of claim 3, wherein said lock is pivotably mounted onsaid lower end of said first disc-shaped element in said slot andincludes an oblique surface facing said lower ends of said first andsecond disc-shaped elements so that said hanger inserted upwardly intosaid slot engages said oblique surface at said bottom portion and movessaid lock from said locking position to said release position forreceiving said hanger in said fastening device.
 5. The product carrierof claim 4, wherein said lock includes an upper portion forming a shelfadjacent said oblique surface so that said lock is returned to saidlocking position when said hanger engages said shelf, said shelfsupporting said hanger thereon when said lock is returned to saidlocking position.
 6. The product carrier of claim 5, wherein said lockis spring-loaded in said locking position by a pressure spring.
 7. Theproduct carrier of claim 2, wherein said lock includes an arm and saidpin includes an oblique axial surface whereby when said pin is movedinto said second position said oblique axial surface contacts said armand thereby pivots said lock into said release position.
 8. A productcarrier transporting apparatus, comprising:a) a plurality of hangers forcarrying products; b) a plurality of product carriers, each of saidproduct carriers including a housing having a downwardly open slot forinsertion of one of said hangers and a pivotable lock mounted in saidslot and pivotable between a locking position and a release position,said pivotable lock spring-loaded in said locking position for lockingsaid hanger in said slot, said lock including release means for pivotingsaid lock into said release position from said locking position andreleasing said hanger from said product carrier; c) a loading stationfor loading said hangers in said product carriers; d) a buffer stationfor temporarily storing said hangers, including means for supporting andtransporting said hangers to said loading station; e) a carrier stationfor temporarily storing said product carriers, including means forsupporting and transporting product carriers to said loading station; f)means for inserting one of said hangers into said slot at said loadingstation so that said hanger engages said lock and is locked in saidslot; and g) control means for guiding the movement of said productcarriers in said apparatus and for releasing said lock from said lockingposition to release said hanger from said product carriers at apredetermined point in said apparatus.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8,further comprising identification means on said products, means forreading said identification means and means for storing informationregarding said identification means for operating said control means.10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said means for supporting andtransporting said product carriers includes a first rail, said means forsupporting and transporting said hangers includes a second rail, andsaid means for inserting said hangers includes lifting means for liftingsaid hangers into said slots.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein saididentification means is selected from the group consisting of a bar codeand radio frequency identification.
 12. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein said means for reading said identification means and said meansfor storing information regarding said identification means includes acomputer.
 13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said control means forguiding the movement of said product carriers in said apparatus and forreleasing said lock from said locking position includes a computer. 14.The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said product carriers are marked withidentification means, said means for reading said identification meanscomprises a person-operated interface, and said means for storinginformation regarding said identification means includes a computer incommunication with said interface.
 15. A method of transporting hangers,comprising the steps of transporting a product carrier to a loadingstation, said product carrier including a housing having a downwardlyopen slot for insertion of one of said hangers and a pivotable lockmounted in said slot and pivotable between a locking position and arelease position, said pivotable lock spring-loaded in a lockingposition for locking said hanger in said slot, transporting said hangerfrom a buffer station to said loading station, and lifting said hangerinto said slot so that said hanger is locked in said slot.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising the steps of readingidentification means on a product suspended from said hanger beforetransporting said hanger from said buffer station, and storinginformation regarding said identification means.
 17. The method of claim16, further comprising the steps of transporting said product carrier ona rail away from said loading station, controlling the movement of saidproduct carrier including releasing said lock from said locking positionto release said hanger from said product carrier at a predeterminedpoint.
 18. The method of claim 15, further comprising the steps ofreading identification means on said product carrier before transportingsaid hanger from said buffer station and storing information regardingsaid identification means.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein saidsteps of reading, storing and controlling are performed by a computer.20. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of transportingsaid product carrier on a rail away from said loading station,controlling the movement of said. product carriers including releasingsaid lock from said locking position to release said hanger from saidproduct carrier at a predetermined point.
 21. The method of claim 20,wherein said steps of reading, storing and controlling are performed bya computer.